Fortunately, figuring out whether to pay yourself by owner’s draw or salary (while staying in the good graces of the tax man) isn’t too hard once you understand the basics.

There’s also some upside: Making the correct choice for you and your business will help you save on taxes, maximize cash flow, maintain tax compliance, and even avoid personal liability for your business’s debts.

So let’s dive in:

Salary and owners’ draw simplified

You probably already know there are two options for paying yourself. Here’s what they mean:

Salary: Paying yourself a salary means you pay yourself a fixed amount each pay period. When you choose to go with a salary, taxes will be withheld from your paychecks and your company will send your tax payments to the IRS on your behalf, just like any other employee. Taking a salary makes it easy to anticipate the company’s cash needs and it helps you pay your personal taxes in a timely way.

The IRS even requires owners of S-corps and C-corps who are involved with the running of the business to take salaries, which must include “reasonable” levels of compensation. We will discuss different entity types in more detail below.

Owner’s Draw: Also referred to as a “draw,” an owner’s draw is when you voluntarily choose to take money out of your business. After all, if your company makes $100,000 in profit, then that profit is all yours, right? Assuming there are no co-owners, you’re free to write yourself a check or even take money out of the cash register for your personal use. In fact, if you’re a sole proprietor, a draw is your only option to paying yourself.

Draws are not limited to cash withdrawals, either. Going to the ATM or writing yourself a check are technically cash withdrawals, but you can take non-cash withdrawals too. For example, say your company gets a bulk discount when it buys computers. If the company pays for a computer at the discounted price and gives it to your family, that would also be a form of a draw.

Draws can be a fixed amount paid at regular times or can be taken as needed. As the business owner, you have the discretion on when to take draws. But, because no taxes are withheld or remitted to the IRS, you’ll need to keep tabs on where that cash flow is going and make quarterly payments or settle up at the end of the year.

If you’re a sole proprietor, it’s all coming from one big pot, but if you’re an LLC, intermingling your business and personal finances can mean losing your limited liability status.

Salary vs. Owner’s Draw at a Glance

Salary

Owner’s draw

What is it?

Fixed payments on a regular schedule

Discretionary payments that are made whenever you choose. Can be non-cash.

Pros

Taxes withheld so you don’t have to worry about budgeting for a lump sum payment at the end of the year.

Easy to budget

No taxes withheld

Doesn’t require regular cash flow: You can draw when you have the cash on hand.

Cons

Requires regular cash flow

Not easy to budget

You need to plan for year-end tax liabilities

Eligible entity types

LLC

S-Corp (active owners must take a salary)

C-Corp (active owners must take a salary)

Sole proprietor

Partnership

LLC

S-Corp (you can take draws in addition to a salary)

Salary, draws, and the IRS

As you can see above, your business entity type can play a major role in how you can pay yourself. Here’s a closer look at the implications of using different entity types.

Sole proprietor

Using draws is the only option for sole proprietors — you cannot legally pay yourself a W-2 salary. That’s because paying yourself a salary isn’t a deductible expense for tax purposes when you’re a sole proprietor. The IRS considers any payments you make to yourself a draw (and on the flipside, it considers any profits your business makes to be your personal income).

The good news is you won’t immediately have to pay tax on your draws. The bad news is these draws won’t reduce your taxable income like a salary would.

Here’s a quick example: Your customers buy $100,000 worth of products from you over the course of a year. Say your business expenses for the year are $60,000 and you’ve taken draws of $30,000.

At the end of the year, your taxable income would be $40,000 — the profits from the business, which your draws won’t reduce.

The IRS will tax this $40,000 (not the $30,000 you “drew”) as self-employment income so you’ll pay 15.3% tax for FICA. However, you will be able to take a deduction for half of the FICA tax you pay. And, then you will also pay income tax on that $40,000.

Partnership

Much like sole proprietors, partners in a partnership must use the draw method to pay themselves. The IRS doesn’t consider partners employees of a partnership. Therefore, you are unable to pay yourself a salary. You will be taxed like a sole proprietor for your percentage of the partnership’s income.

Limited Liability Company (LLC)

If you are a single-member LLC (meaning, you are the only owner), the IRS will consider the LLC a “disregarded entity” and treat your business as if you were a sole proprietor. You’ll have the same taxation concerns as a sole proprietor.

However, the IRS allows you to choose how you want to be taxed by filing Form 8832. You can elect to be taxed as a partnership or S-corp. Note: the default taxation classification is sole proprietor unless you inform the IRS you would like to be taxed as an S-corporation with Form 8832.

For multi-member LLCs, the IRS default taxation classification is as a partnership. You’ll have the same taxation concerns as partnerships, as discussed above. You can file Form 8832 to elect taxation as an S-corp, only if all members agree.

S-corporation (S-corp or small corporation)

If your business is an S-corp, you must pay yourself a salary if you are actively involved in running and managing your business.

To keep you from avoiding employment taxes, the IRS requires S-corp owners to pay themselves a “reasonable salary” that is in line with your their job duties, education, skills, and experience. There are services and websites available that will determine reasonable compensation for you. But you can also look at what other companies pay their officers to get an idea of what is reasonable.

You can also take draws as an owner of an S-corp. However, you can’t take draws in lieu of a reasonable salary.

The good news is that your salary and the 7.65% of FICA tax the S-corp pays on your salary is tax deductible and will reduce the company’s taxable income. Also, any business profits that aren’t paid out as salary or an owner’s draw will be taxed at the corporate tax rate (instead of the personal income tax rate for sole proprietors and partnerships), which is often lower than the owner’s personal income tax rate.

C-corporation

Much like an S-corp, C-corp business owners who are actively involved in the business must be paid reasonable compensation. The good news is that, like an S-corp, your salary and the company portion of FICA tax is tax deductible.

The major difference from an S-corp is that a C-corp usually should not allow owners to take draws. Since the C-corp is typically owned by shareholders, the earnings of the C-corp are “owned” by the company.

If a C-corp business owner wants to “draw” money, above his or her salary, it must be taken as a dividend payment. The bad news is that the dividend payment is not a tax-deductible expense. If you want to take a draw from a C-corp, the better option may be to take it in the form of a bonus. A bonus would be a tax-deductible business expense for your business, and on your personal taxes, you may qualify for a flat bonus tax rate, which could be lower than your personal income tax rate.

Also, be careful to not pay yourself unreasonably high compensation. The IRS has taken the position that excessive compensation is a “disguised” distribution of company profits. In turn, these “disguised” distributions are really dividends in the eyes of the IRS and lose their tax-deductibility.

Be careful with loans!

Steer clear of classifying any money you draw as a loan. Loans to owners must have terms like those required in traditional lending arrangements. That means there must be a signed promissory note, with stated reasonable interest rate, and a repayment schedule. There must also be consequences for non-payment. Otherwise you risk the IRS reclassifying these “loans” to dividends or salary.

Plan ahead for taxes

The U.S. income tax system is a pay-as-you-go system and you are expected to pay taxes as you earn your revenue. If you’re using the draw method, you’ll need to set aside enough money to pay your tax bill. This may require you to make estimated quarterly payments to the IRS: If you owe more than $1,000 at April 15, you’ll be penalized.

If you have any questions about how to pay yourself, talking to a tax pro is always a good idea. No two businesses are the same — nor are the needs of business owners — so someone who understands your situation better will be able to help you make the right decision between paying yourself a salary or taking an owner’s draw.